Special Awards

Kia Ora Foundation sponsored New Zealand tenor Amitai Pati in the 2016 Merola Opera Program in San Francisco, California. Amitai Pati was selected from more than 800 artists who applied for this world-renowned summer opera training program. As a Merola partipant, Amitai will perform the role of Ferrando in Mozart’s beloved Così fan tutte and will be a featured artist in the annual Merola Grand Finale concert.

Kia Ora Foundation provided tenor Pene Pati with invaluable support for his participation in the prestigious San Francisco Opera Adler Fellowship Program. Pene made an acclaimed main stage debut as Count Lerma in Verdi’s masterwork, Don Carlo—and was a featured performer in “Celebrating David!”—a gala concert honoring outgoing General Director David Gockley.

Kia Ora Foundation provided soprano Amina Edris with invaluable support for her participation in the prestigious San Francisco Opera Adler Fellowship Program. As an Adler Fellow, Amina has already made a distinguished company debut as Frasquita in Bizet’s Carmen.

Kia Ora Foundation supported Pene Pati with a special Patricia Pratt Award to further support his final year of study at the Dennis O’Neill Academy in Wales and also financially assisted with his participation in the Merola Opera Programme at the San Francisco Opera in the summer of 2013.

Special donation to San Francisco Opera to support the appearance of Jonathan Lemalu in Jake Heggie's opera Moby-Dick in the autumn of 2012.

Handel, Messiah, ”Behold, I tell you a mystery” and “The trumpet shall sound”

Gershwin, Porgy and Bess, “Bess, you is my woman now,” with Measha Brueggergosman

Butterworth, “Love blows as the wind blows”

Quilter, Four Shakespeare Songs, Op.30

Special donation to San Francisco Opera to support the appearance of Simon O’Neill as Mao Zedong in John Adams’s opera Nixon in China.

Beethoven, Fidelio, “Gott! Welch dunkel hier”

Puccini, La bohème with Dame Kiri Te Kanawa

You Asked the Questions: Simon O’Neill as Chairman Mao from the San Francisco Opera

Kia Ora Foundation supported Hadleigh Adams with a special Patricia Pratt Award to financially assist him in his studies at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, England.

Kia Ora Foundation supported Helen Bevin in travelling to the United Kingdom to audition for post-graduate music study. Thanks to this award, Helen gained her Masters of Music with Distinction and Concert Recital Diploma from Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 2011, being a finalist in the School’s Max and Peggy Morgan Award and attending such prestigious master classes as Prussia Cove IMS. She was then accepted onto the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s “Foyle Future Firsts” scheme before gaining a position as solo viola with the Lahti Symphony Orchestra in Finland.

Underwritten and organized in collaboration with the Dame Malvina Major Foundation, Kia Ora Foundation was proud to sponsor this intensive, weeklong workshop. The leaders of this training programme were Sheri Greenawald, an internationally known soprano, who is now head of the San Francisco Opera Center and Mark Morash, Music Director of the San Francisco Opera Center. Pacific Opera Programme was held in Christchurch in September, 2011. Participants learnt insights into their craft to help them navigate the obstacles that face any young artist struggling to make a career in the challenging world of music performance. The programme culminated in a Grand Finale Concert held on September 8, 2013.